Today, U.S. PIRG marks the nine year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s misguided Citizens United decision. While Citizens United has been disastrous for our democracy, there is hope for reform. A strong, bi-partisan majority of Americans support overturning the decision.

WASHINGTON, DC – On Thursday, January 3, House Democratic leaders unveiled a package of democracy reform legislation titled “For the People,” or House Resolution 1 (H.R.1). The package includes proposals to make it easier to vote and participate in our democracy, disclose secret political spending, reform redistricting practices and more. Most importantly, in creating a small donor empowerment system for federal elections, it would help combat the overwhelming influence of big money in point politics.

With a unanimous, bipartisan vote of 38-0, the Massachusetts Senate today passed Automatic Voter Registration. The AVR legislation would establish a system for eligible citizens to automatically register to vote when they interact with a state agency like the Registry of Motor Vehicles or MassHealth. Approximately 680,000 eligible Massachusetts voters are currently not registered to vote.

This month, the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision turns eight. With all that’s going on in politics, it’s easy to focus on the latest scandal or hot take. But we should take the opportunity on this anniversary to focus on what I would argue is at the root of our political quagmire.

We’ve seen a lot of politicians talking about “infrastructure” recently. While everyone seems to have a slightly different vision of what that catch-all term means, we have transpartisan agreement that we need to do something about our most critical infrastructure. But while our roads, bridges and sewers certainly need work, I’d argue that the infrastructure we most urgently need to invest in isn’t so concrete — it’s our democracy.

On Thursday, the shareholders of Equifax, Inc., will vote on whether or not the corporation should disclose not just direct political contributions but also secret, dark money spending. The shareholders should not let this opportunity to know how their company is spending its money slip through their fingers.

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Advocates and activists celebrated on Tuesday as Mayor Bowser signed the Fair Elections Act, a major democracy reform that will bring small donor public financing to local elections. The Mayor’s signature comes after the D.C. Council voted unanimously to pass the Fair Elections Act in February. Small donor empowerment programs provide public matching funds to candidates who accept only small contributions, rather than relying on wealthy donors and special interests to bankroll their campaigns.

Tuesday, in a 13-0 vote, the D.C. Council voted decisively to advance the Fair Elections Act of 2017 at first reading, which lays the foundation for public financing in the District and reduces barriers for DC candidates and voters.